By SAM WEBER

STAFF WRITER

Monday, March 2nd, marked the opening of a new exhibition in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, as well as a lecture from the show’s curator, Mark Fertig. 

At 7:00 p.m. that evening, Fertig brought the gallery to life with the chaos and grit of mid-nineteenth century American cinema as he discussed the meaning of “Between Midnight and Dawn: Midcentury Noir and Crime Film Posters.” 

All of the posters featured in the show come from the personal collections of Fertig and Eddie Muller, a novelist, filmmaker, and historian. Muller is known for being the Turner Classic Movies host.

When strolling through the gallery, one gets a sense of the dark thematic elements of Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. 

Following two World Wars and the Great Depression, America was ripe for the strife of disillusionment to take hold in the national consciousness. 

Fears of the Atomic Bomb and Communism, a rise in dull suburbia and runaway materialism, and an increasingly dissatisfied female population are all reflected in the exhibition. 

Many of the posters harken back to the hard-boiled detective stories of mid-twentieth century America; they are full of buxom dames, armed gangsters with their hats pulled low over mischievous eyes, and eye-catching splashes of color.

Be sure to stop in the gallery and get a taste of this tumultuous era in American history before it is gone! 

The exhibition will be open until April 11th.